Kiki's Olym-Pics

Our first Olympic event was a Biathlon on the first Tuesday of the first week. We had great weather and we met tons of cool euro types, as you'll soon see. Actually, this is two separate Biathlon's worth of pictures: men's and woman's pursuit, and the men's and woman's individuals a couple of days later.

The Germans rock Biathlon. Here's Kian with a German woman
wearing Kati Wilhelm hair and a patriotic outfit. She gave Kian a bag
of gummi bears but he didn't like them, lucky me.

The Norwegians were there in big numbers too, of course, and the
lady nearest in the picture adopted Kian for part of the day.

The French weren't in huge numbers but they raced successfully
and this little troupe made a lot of noise.

Kian cheered heartily for the Americans.

Poor little guy didn't know that the USA isn't
much of a force in the biathlon scene. Yet.

So he joined the international scene, and is seen here waving the
Union Jack with some little Limey's who really took a shine to him.

And here's Cedric the little Swiss boy who Kian invited aboard. They
charted the biathlon waters for awhile but hit the doldrums and Cedric
abandoned ship. Or was he kian-hualed?

Master and Commander.

A biathlete shooting prone is etched in the snow.

Here's the only pic of daddy skiing even after dozens of
hours logged: great weather, great terrain, mostly great snow.

2010 Olympics is ON!

We've been at the Olympics for a week now and are soaking it up and having a blast. This is my third Olympics now and its beginning to rival my other experiences, and if the next few days go as planned and the weather doesn't interfere, it might surpass the others for shear funness.

We've been to two events and its a great time for sure, but we've learned its more fun to hang out and enjoy from the village. Its cheaper for one and we avoid all those shuttle bus hassels and crowds, but we can also spend our mornings cross-country skiing at Lost Lakes Nordic right in the village and then get beers and poutine for lunch while we catch up on the latest happenings at the games on one of the big-screens.

And the weather has been puuuuurrrrrrrrr-fect!

Last Sunday we had an awesome time in Bellingham with the Hamsters and gang. It rained all morning and Rachel and Alan put together an amazing breakfast for us. It was a fun lazy morning and we had second thoughts about the Olympics, what with all this warm crappy weather. Then it cleared and a couple posse's formed: 5 or 6 of us dudes took our bikes up to Galbraith and had an epicly fun and muddy ride while the ladies went for a stroll with Kian out to the falls and didn't get back to after nightfall. We were worried sick as we pollished off Christine's birthday keg and watched Olympics Day 3. Oh yeah: then some of us drove up to the rink for roller skating Valentine's style. Alan still had it after all those years (he's even got his own skates), while the rest of us mostly flailed and scared all the parents with our reckless speed skating. Kian had to watch on, no babies on the hard deck.

That night we crossed the border and made our way into downtown Vancouver, and parked easily in our old spot right next to the Union Pacific station just a short walk from Yaletown, BC Place and some of the Olympic happenings. It was great weather all day and we did the tourist thing from our bikes with Kian in tow. We cased it out. Cruised the city streets and down Granville, then we hit the bay and the supercrowds and had beers and a light lunch along the waterfront, then met "Joe" in Stanley Park for the Biathlon ticket exchange, we were out there all day. At night we made it back to the Yaletown Live venue and suffered a 30-min line to watch a couple of live shows including Matisyahu... that was about when it started raining. That's when we packed up and left Van for the Mountains because we had to be at the Biathlon the next morning. No idea how it would all work out but it did in grand Tortuga fashion. In Squamish I stopped at a 7-11 while Annie and Kian slept so that I could figure out our move, and a group of Californian dudes traveling in a rented RV gave us their slip at an RV park less than 2-miles from the Biathlon venue, AMAZING! They had paid but decided to leave to have their final day in Vancouver and so they spot was being unused: there! Pulled in at 1am and had our first night in the mountains plugged in and comfortable. What luck.

(I'd post more pics but the connection here is slower than in Mexico's BC -- more later).

U-S-Eh!

U-S-A, U-S-A, U-S-A... U-S-eh!? Yeah, we're rooting for the Canadians now too as long as they aren't head-to-head with one of us. They have been great hosts and have been lots of fun... they love Kian even after they find out that he's a little Yank. We expected him to be kicked and jeered, but the hospitality and interest in the little guy is almost rivaling that from the "other" BC... Baja California.

Did you catch the big game? What big game? That's what I thought. THE hockey game, Canada vs USA. Both came in undefeated and the victor wins the Group. We watched the first 2 periods at Michael and Bryn's rented pad just above the big square here in Whistler and when it looked like a close game we wandered down into the Plaza to soak it up with the Canadians. We only slightly feared for our lives in the case of a US victory, but the only hazing we received were at the hands of some Australian idiots who were less classy than any Canadians I've met. Guess they don't get it. Funny thing is that Australia is to New Zealand what we are to Canada, the big obnoxious brother, and yet they don't give us any slack for it. But aside from this the scene up here is fantastic. For example, I'm sitting in a coffee shop right now (why? Its sunny out and Annie and Kian are out skiing), and I'm surrounded by International fans of all kinds. Crazy accents from everywhere, interesting yuppie fashions, and its like a Media Center in here with laptops out and people blogging tweating and transmitting their messages to the far flung corners. I'm sitting next to Korean journalists who are no doubt touting their near dominance in the short track events.

Hey hey Bode! He's back and an underdog this time.

Oh, and in case you really missed it, USA beat Canada in that hockey game and we did not get lynched or much hazed. Dissappointed but gracious losers.

Bahia de Concepcion

This was the furthest south that we made it, about 50-kilometers south of Mulege. You could say we got stuck there, but not stuck in the sand type of stuck, but stuck by choice, by necessity, by addiction. These things happen to travelers sometimes. You just got to kick off the flip-flops and prop your dogs up on a lazy boy, or something, that's what we did. Requeson Beach. But getting there wasn't easy. Hmmm, where to start.

Instead of all the details, how about just saying that we traveled. Seriously, it wasn't the touristy kind with fancy soaps and clean towels, an air-conditioned coach or posh restaurants. Most of what we had was dirty, including the roads and including ourselves, as we only showered once in the couple weeks that we were in Baja. We washed our huffs and that's what's important. Dirt is good, dirt is real, we kept things pretty real. Kian loves real.

For example. One day we met the coolest old gringo couple from Idaho who'd been staking claim to a spot on a Pacific-side bay for over 20-years. They didn't buy land, they just plop their trailer down in an awesome spot and don't move it for 4-months every winter. I met Lee when he pulled me out of the sand. Three times. The prospect of making it up to that lighthouse sucked me in and it was hell trying to get out. Once we were freed we pulled up on a drivable section of beach and he invited us over. Apparently his wife Fern needed some speach therapy living out there without many gringos around and she talked Kian and I's ears off. Cool stories. Kian got to ride on his first ATV and learned to make engine sounds. Fern loved to tan herself and Kian kept trying to touch the leathery, flabby skin on the back of her legs but I managed to smack his hand away each time without notice. We spent a night out there on their beach and before we left they gave us some great tips on avoiding the $30/person tourist fees and where to shop in Guerrero Negro. They also gave us a couple pounds of Mako Shark meat, god bless them.

Fast forward to Mulege, 3-days later... (I'll finish this post up later, pics first).

Kiki ridin shotgun.

8-kph bumps on these roads. 120-kms. You do the math.

Notice the nice peaks on those washboards: it hurts just seeing this.

Drivin and Jigglin.

Jigglin.

Ahhhhh..... yessssss!

Killin time when its hot.

At The Crack of New Year

At that exact moment when, Baja time, the clock struck midnight and all those dials rolled up new to 01, 01, and 010, we were dead in the sand. We and the RV were dead stuck. Way to start it off right!

Pre-stuck: our camping spot overlooking Mar de Cortez.

But we had a great final day of the decade, right up to that moment. It was our first full day in Mexico since crossing the border south of Yuma the day prior and we'd spent it frolicking in the sand, the water, the sun. We rolled back to San Felipe town from our camp spot and found the malecon (the boardwalk) where the tourists hang out, and the requisite strip of great restaurants and shirt shops. We found one with a table in the sun (a restaurant, not a shirt shop) and had one of the best meals of our entire trip. As would become the norm, Kian drew a crowd of Mexican ladies and young girls who stroked his hair and pinched his checks. And that was before we had him dancing in the streets and saying "hola".

For dinner we bought a kilo of fresh prawns and a bottle of decent tequila, and we did both gringo-mexican style: tacos gambas and margaritas. There were very few other gringos around. We chatted with a cool group of Norcal-ifornians but most of our interactions were with locals who were out on the strip celebrating the new year too. An impromptu band struck up on one of the corners and as the evening wore on, a constant stream of cars started to build which seemed an awful lot like cruising. Hell, it was cruising, another one of the great things that hasn't been squashed yet by the authorities in the land down under. Mexican polka boomed out of every car, people smiled and waved. The moon was capital E-normous, so we hopped down into the sand and played on the beach as well as walked the boardwalk until we finally decided to call it a night a mere 60-minutes from midnight. Annie and Kian were sacked, and I was fading. I drove it back to our beachfront parking spot from the night before, just out of town near the marina, and since my spot was taken I drove a little further down. I drove down, further, just a little too far... and buried the Tortuga up to her axles. Annie and Kian done in the back, so no worries, I'd finish the year off without worries and defer the issue to next year. I turned off the polka, pulled out the keys and crawled into the back and went to sleep. Just as I was dozing off I heard some blasts in the distance, and peaking out one of the windows I could see bits of fireworks going off just above the sand dune that we were stuck behind. Yep, happy New Year.

Not exactly the best way to wake up on a New Years morning, but its better than a hangover for sure. Annie and Kian hit the beach while I recruited help to get us out. No more than two hours later we were back in San Felipe stocking up for our assault into uncharted territory and a date with the capital-G-narliest road in the free world. Of this though, we were yet unawares.

Kiki streakin: he loved the beach, what white kid don't.

El Malecon de San Felipe.

That's Annie landing a big one. Don't throw it back!

Comida.

Kian was stoked for New Years.

The Big Blue Moon.

A stop at the beach and hotsprings in Puertocitas. Check this out!

We had to wait for the tide to go out because these
thermals were in the tidal pools. So sweet and at sunset!

New Years Day night we were camped miles from anywhere: once the pavement ended we drove with cigars, beers between our legs, and turned off the headlights to navigate by the stars and the light of moon (okay, only I smoked cigars, but
Kian kept a beer between his legs to stay cool).